Japanese Non-examined Patent Publication No. 2004-55463 discloses a connector assembly comprising a header and a socket which are coupled to each other and are electrically connected to each other.
This connector assembly comprises a rectangular header 100 and a rectangular socket 200. As shown in FIG. 8, the header 100 has a header body 101 made of an insulating material, such as a synthetic resin, and a plurality of header contact members 102 made of a conductive material and held by both side walls 103 of said header body 101 along the longitudinal direction of the header body 101.
The socket 200 has a socket body 201 made of an insulating material, such as a synthetic resin, and having a connective concave portion 202 into which the header body 101 can be inserted, and a plurality of socket contact members 203 made of a conductive material and held by both side walls 204 of the socket body 201 along the longitudinal direction of the socket body 201 so that they each can come in contact with the header contact members 102 inside the connective concave portion 202 when the header body 101 is inserted into the connective concave portion 202.
Each header contact member 102 has a first contact piece 102a disposed on an outer side surface of the side wall 103 of the header body 101, a second contact piece 102b extended from the first contact piece 102a along the side wall 103 and disposed on an inner side surface of the side wall 103 of the header body 101, and a mounting terminal piece 102c extended from the second contact piece 102b and penetrating a bottom of the header body 101 and projecting from the header body 101 to the outside. The first contact piece 102a has a first protrusion 102d on an outer surface thereof.
Each socket contact member 203 has a mounting terminal piece 203a projecting from the socket body 201 to the outside, a first connecting piece 203b extended from one end of the mounting terminal piece 203a and held by an outer side surface of the side wall 204 of the socket body 201, a second connecting piece 203c extended from one end of the first connecting piece 203b toward the inside of the socket body 201, a first contact piece 203d extended from one end of the second connecting piece 203c and disposed on an inner side surface of the side wall 204, a third connecting piece 203e extended from one end of the first contact piece 203d and running toward the inside of the socket body 201 along a bottom of the connective concave portion 202, and a second contact piece 203f extended from one end of the third connecting piece 203e toward the first contact piece 203d and whose end is curved toward the inside of the socket body 201.
The first contact piece 203d has, at one end on an opening side of the connective concave portion 202, a first protrusion 203g elastically protruding in a direction perpendicular to the insertion direction of the header 100. The third connecting piece 203e is inclined toward a direction apart from the bottom of the connective concave portion 202 as it goes toward the inside of the connective concave portion 202, whereby the second contact piece 203f can elastically deform along the insertion direction of the header 100.
As shown in FIG. 9, when the header 100 is inserted into the socket 200, the first contact piece 102a of the header contact member 102 and the first contact piece 203d of the socket contact member 203 come in contact with each other, and the second contact piece 102b of the header contact member 102 and the second contact piece 203f of the socket contact member 203 come in contact with each other. And, the first protrusion 102d of the header contact member 102 and the first protrusion 203g of the socket contact member 203 are engaged with each other, whereby the header 100 is locked to the socket 200.
As mentioned above, because this connector assembly has two contact points between the header contact member 102 and the socket contact member 203, this connector assembly has high contact reliability, as compared with a case where the connector assembly has only one contact point. However, if foreign substances are lodged in both between the first contact pieces 102a and 203d and between the second contact pieces 102d and 203f, poor contact may occur.